Zero-G has announced Vocaloid Sonika, a brand-new plug-in Virtual Vocalist modelled on the voice of a young girl pop singer, and powered by the latest Yamaha Vocaloid 2 Singing Synthesis Technology.

Sonika is "a sweet virtual voice at your fingertips". Whether it's sweet and pure leads, harmonies or backing vocals, Sonika can sing any word from the English language (and other languages too with a little work), according to Zero-G. Sonika is also very well suited if you want to be adventurous and experimental, since her voice can be easily modified and shaped in many ways.

In addition to singing any words or combination of syllables or phonemes you can imagine, Sonika will spread any sustained vowel (or voiced consonant) across as many notes as you like, with perfect legato. You can select from several different natural vibrato types and drag and drop your chosen type to any note or notes, and control the time-position and amount of the vibrato.

And that's just the beginning - you have control over all of the following parameters, which you can bring to bear on any part of your creation:

Changing syllables/phonemes.

Timing of each note (precise position/length).

Vibrato (you can change its type/position/amount/frequency).

Volume.

Attack.

Crescendo or diminuendo.

Pitch bend (amount, and positionable in time).

Glide (portamento).

Resonance (Frequency/bandwidth/amplitude).

Harmonics.

Noise.

Brightness.

Clearness.

Gender factor.

Key Features of Vocaloid2:

GUI: The Vocaloid Editor (score editing tool) of Vocaloid2 has a new look with improved user functionality.

A realistic and natural sounding vocal: The synthesis engine of Vocaloid2 uses a different signal processing technique from Version 1, creating a clearer and more natural vocal.

Realtime Keyboard Performance (VST Instrument): Written lyrics can be assigned a note by touch of a keyboard. You can "sing" using a keyboard.

New functionality and improvements: Much easier to use functionality are newly implemented, which reduce workloads in creating your music. Existing functionality are also improved.

Note auditioning: If you press a note, singing with lyrics and pitch will be assigned to the note. Instantly check lyrics and notes.

Transparent control track: Control track for controlling timbre is transparent, so you can check two parameters at once.

Toggling between Playback and Rendering: You can specify playback/rendering mode for each track. By rendering the finished track, you can reduce CPU load in playback. Maximum number of tracks is 16.

Expression control: You can easily specify musical expression (attack and vibrato) with this intuitive user interface.